The University of St Andrews has announced a special games-focused enterprise session as part of its annual Innovation Week, featuring Scottish Games Network CEO Brian Baglow (me!) alongside industry legend Carol Clark, Chief Operating Officer at Pocket Sized Hands and Honorary Professor in Practice at the University of Dundee.
Hosted by the EdenTay Founders Community – the collaborative enterprise network linking the Universities of St Andrews, Dundee, and Abertay – the Games Night event takes place on Tuesday 29 September 2026 at Parliament Hall in St Andrews.
Ahead of the evening session, Carol and I are travelling to Fife to record a dedicated feature episode for Beyond StArtups, the official podcast produced by the University of St Andrews Entrepreneurship Centre.
Bridging Regional Clusters and Academic Enterprise
The EdenTay Founders Community was established to connect students, researchers, and regional founders across Fife and Tayside, break down academic silos, and support sustainable, scalable new ventures.
While Dundee is internationally recognised as a global hub for game development and Abertay long acclaimed for games education, bringing the interactive media conversation to St Andrews reflects the sector’s growing cross-disciplinary reach. The session will explore the commercial realities of building interactive entertainment studios, navigating digital production pipelines, and applying game mechanics across wider commercial and academic domains.
That bit is important. While the global games market continues to grow in value (exceeding $213 billion in 2026 according to Newzoo), that growth is ‘uneven’ to say the least. This leaves many studios reliant upon a consumer hit – within the increasingly complex and saturated commercial games market.
Our new More Than Games initiative looks outside the normal ‘industry’ approach for places and spaces where games skills can be used in other ways – learning and development, 3D visualisation, building more compelling user journeys, or helping companies design for joy!
Beyond StArtups Feature Episode
The recording for Beyond StArtups will examine the broader role of creative entrepreneurship within Scotland’s economy.
Hosted by the University’s Entrepreneurship Centre, the podcast delves into the journeys of founders, creatives, and non-traditional innovators. The upcoming conversation will explore the transition from creative concepts to sustainable commercial businesses, the operational grit required to run independent studios, and the reality of working in the games ecosystem in 2026.
Event Details & Registration
The EdenTay Games Night is open to students, researchers, staff, and regional founders from across the St Andrews, Dundee, and Abertay enterprise networks.
- Event: [Innovation Week] EdenTay Founders Community: Games Night
- Date: Tuesday 29 September 2026
- Time: 18:00 – 20:00 BST
- Venue: Parliament Hall, University of St Andrews, South Street, St Andrews
- Format: In-person panel, discussion, and networking (with pizza provided)
- Organiser: University of St Andrews Entrepreneurship Centre / EdenTay Founders Community
- Registration: Available via the official University of St Andrews Events Portal
The feature episode of Beyond StArtups will be released across all major podcast platforms following production. We’ll share it via SGN as soon as it’s published.